Psychology Notes PDF

Is a tomato red? No, it's the light reflecting off of it showing red, colour is a construction Light rays are not coloured, colour resides in our brains, not the object -- we dream in colour, we can detect 7 million colour variations -- among mammals primates have the largest colour perception -- f...

Is a tomato red? No, it's the light reflecting off of it showing red, colour is a construction Light rays are not coloured, colour resides in our brains, not the object -- we dream in colour, we can detect 7 million colour variations -- among mammals primates have the largest colour perception -- fish don't see the colours, bulls don't see red capes -cones each contain a different pigment receptor -- short, medium and long -- most colours can be described in hue, brightness and saturation -hue determined by wave length (peak to peak) -brightness is the amount of energy of the light being perceived (how bright is the light), colour of minimal brightness is black -saturation -- intensity or purity of dominant wavelength -how the light hitting the cones is how we perceive colour -- this is why we see colours differently -additive process -- light shown through prism breaks up into all colours, spectrum of wavelengths, passed through a second prism we get white -white is a colour -- processing all three colour spectrums in equal proportions to get white -in 1802 the human eye can detect any colour from combinations of the three colours red, green and blue -colour coding retina -- slide 5 -trichromatic theory \*\*\*quiz\*\*\* red, green, blue, no definit cones for yellow -- red and green cones make yellow -colour blindness -- genetic disorder -- people are unable to see green or red colours accurately -- vision is normal -- -greens are firing reds are turned off -- when green disappears we see the red or opponent colour \*\*\*test eye diagram to label\*\*\* Audition -stimulus input is sound waves -- expanding and compressing molecules -sounds waves come towards the ear and to ear drum -frequency (pitch -- high or low) is determined by the wavelength (peak to peak) -measure sound in dB (decibels) -amplitude of sound which is the loudness refers to the height of the wave -something that has high wave and short wavelength -- high pitched loud sound -speech banana -- indication of [sounds of speech] that humans can hear -some sounds are just air (f, s, th, z, v) -cycles per second is hertz (Hz) \*\*quiz\*\*-human ear can hear vibrations 30 and 2000 hz FINAL EXAM diagram -- slide 14 -outer ear, pinna, -sound comes in, travels down the ear canal and vibrates the ear drum , then vibrating the ossicles (middles ear bones) , stapes is attached to the oval window and the ovl window vibrates fluid in the cochlea and the auditory nerve -pinna -- parts of the outer ear -- captures sound waves and amplifies and directs to ear canal -middle ear -- contains ear drum, tympanic membrane (ear drum)and ossicles -- chamber between ear drum and cochlea through the oval window -infection is in fluid in middle ear -blowing out ear drum causes a tear and you can't hear because there is nothing to vibrate -cochlea -- vibrates the fluid in the perilymph and as the fluid is vibrating it vibrates the organ of corti which then vibrates the cilia -- eustachian tube gets rids of any debris or anything not needed -cilia move with vibration and after loud noise they move less and can be damaged to the point where they don't move much at all -how do you know where a sound is coming from -- in front of you both pinna pick up the sound and both ear drums are vibration -- one ear drum will vibrate more if noise is on that side -different frequencies affect different parts of the brain Gustation -palate (hard at front, soft at back) -- you can feel the difference -taste buds -the combination of seeing, touching and taste -200 or more taste buds -- bumps are called papilla and can contain up to 200 taste buds -- the taste buds have taste receptors -- taste buds renew every couple weeks -- age and disease, smoking and alcohol can decrease taste sensitivity -slide 30 -- taste bud diagram -- bitter, sour, umami, sweet, salty -if you lick something with the tip of your tongue you can taste the saltiness first Olfaction -we inhale about 20000 breaths every day -the chemicals in the air are received in the nostrils and carried to about 5 mil receptor cells at the top of each nasal cavity -- alerts the brain through axon fibres (slide 32) -in most vertebrae at bottom of brain and protected by bones -nursing infants can detect mothers through smell and mothers can pick ou babies by smell -molecules vary by size and shape -- 10000 different odours can be detected -olfactory system will not be a diagram to label n test Somatosenses -touch, pressure, warmth, cold pain -skin, internal, vestibular -premature babies who receive massage therapy were able to leave the hospital more quickly -skin senses -- specialized receptor -pain is when your body tells you something is wrong -- without pain can be very dangerous -chronic pain just doesn't go away -- people have different thresholds